Gentrification in San Francisco

Gentrification in San Francisco
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Introduction
Societal organization, laws, policies, local politics, speculation and access to mortgages have often influenced home ownership in the U.S. Among the working class racial minorities gentrification has had a more profound negative impact, but to the wealthier people it has often resulted to higher home values. As such, racial inequalities are worsened by gentrification making it harder for the poor to improve their economic well being. Supporters of gentrification suppose that the positive effects of the process trickle down to the local economy, and this has influence the debate on use of public space. However, gentrification is at times associated with increased rental evictions for the poor, as agents, house owners, real estate developers seek to attract more moneyed residents and better financed businesses. This paper highlights on gentrification in San Francisco, while also mentioning the interplay of power and inequality in gentrification as well as sociological theories that explain the phenomenon.
Background and history of gentrification
Gentrification in San Francisco has reconfigured the geographical lines in the area, typically pushing the minorities and working class people to high dense areas with fewer social amenities. Nowadays with the growth of high tech industry, companies have attracted well paid tech professionals who can afford to pay higher housing rents. In the post war era cities experienced rising poverty, unemployment, and crime, while they has been debate on ways to improve the situation (Robinson 1999). The pattern of gentrification has historically resulted in the emergence of high dense areas in the inner cities, while down turn areas have also expanded dominated by white collar professionals (Robinson 2009). As such, gentrification and displacement often go together where there are two distinct social classes with geographical lines dividing the San Francisco financial district from the low income inner city.Power and inequality
Power and inequality are also linked to gentrification has resulted to greater divide between the poor and the affluent in San Francisco and other cities. Gentrification typically results to a rise in the home value, and this further deepens the divide between the poor and affluent home owners (Glick 2008). In most case, minorities are at disadvantage since Blacks and Latinos are affected negatively upon gentrification give that they are driven out of their residences by rising rent prices. On the other hand, home owners get to have better access to mortgage loans following the rise in property prices. Lenders are more likely to issue subprime products to people with poor credit histories typically lacks and Latinos, meaning they are left worse off because of the predatory nature of these loans (Glick 2008).
To further highlight on the link between power and inequality in gentrification is the growing influence of realtors in influencing property prices. Investors, agents and real estate developers typically expand neighborhoods in order to benefit all people dealing with property development (Mirabal 2009). In other words, the economic motivation of gentr...